As you may remember, the drive to Minneapolis to visit the Mall of America {from here on out it will be referred to as the MOA} was pretty treacherous. Scratch that. It was some of the most terrifying driving I’ve ever done. Ever. But we made it. And, yes…it was worth it.
Let me make something perfectly clear. I don’t shop much. And when I do, it’s usually a trip that totals out at $15 or $20. Unless I’m grocery shopping or hitting Menard’s. If I buy something for myself, it’s only a couple items, they are on sale {or thrifted} and are items that I need.
But this is a “Summer of George.” {I sincerely hope you get the Seinfeld reference there.} Derek is gone and I have my heart set on having lots of fun and adventure. Side note…fun and adventure will not always involved spending the dollars. But this is retail therapy…so shop, I did.
Our hotel was only a few miles away from the MOA and offered a free shuttle service. We were on that thing like white on rice. We signed up to leave on the first shuttle in the morning {at 10am.} After a heated mix up over seating {we didn’t cause the heat}, we were locked and loaded on a shuttle with a friendly driver. Headed for a day of glorious shopping.
10 minutes later we arrived.
Now, here’s the thing about the MOA. It’s huge. So big it just blows your mind for a minute. We walked in and examined the directory. Then wandered into the amusement park for a minute. Yes, you read that part right. Amusement park in the middle of the mall. Just amazing.
{I love this photo. Katie looks like a Yeti walking through the mall…she’s so photogenic.}
Then we started working our way up. Floor by floor. One big loop after another. Walking just the first floor took us to 1:30 pm. So we ate. No, we didn’t just eat. We dined. Or maybe I should say, gorged…at the Twin Cities Grill. Because there are full on restaurants in the MOA. It’s so legit.
By the time we were up to the third floor we were really getting pooped. After finishing at the last store we wanted to hit we still had 90 minutes before the next shuttle back to the hotel. After some debating we decided to take the plunge and go to IKEA…which was conveniently located across the parking lot.
This was my first ever IKEA experience. And it was so amazing. I really made a haul.
When we finished, we had just missed our next shuttle. Now we had two more hours left to haul our giant IKEA bags around the MOA…pooped had turned into total exhaustion. But we powered through and kept on shopping. A trip to Lululemon, a trip to Lego land, a pretzel stop and some fro-yo later it was time for the shuttle. I literally shopped until I dropped. {the first photo in the post was Katie catching me while she checked out at Lulu.} The exact time? 8:20 pm.
Yes, that is right. We shopped for 10 hours. Is that amazing, embarrassing, just plain impressive? I can’t be too sure.
So what did I get in 10 hours time? A lot of good deals. I totaled up my spending and found that my purchases at the MOA came out to average just shy of $11 per item. Pretty decent. Here’s my MOA loot:
7 shirts, one infinity scarf, a pair of earrings {not shown} and a little something from the Lego store for my beloved brother-in-law {also not shown}
IKEA is even more impressive. My spending averaged out to be $4 per item.
5 votive lanterns, 2 magnetic wall mount knife holders, 2 votive holders, 2 pillow forms {not shown}, 4 jade plates, 4 jade bowls.
Did the therapy work? Well, I did have a slight melt down at the Cheesecake Factory Thursday night. I attribute it to the stressful drive. And I did feel lots happier after our mini fashion show in the hotel Friday night. So, yes. I crack retail therapy up to be a success.
The therapy continues with finding places to store all my goods…and looking cool and fashionable in my sweet finds!
